Baby Shoes
by Livette
Summary: Whoa! Something you're not telling us Galvin." A letter reveals some secrets from Mina and Galvin's past. To all fans/haters this account isn't the same person...this story is therefore DISCONTINUED. sorry!
1. The waiting room

_**Love, love, love Demons; there's just something about it that's really hooked me. Anyway this is a story. A pretty over the top idea that came to me in the middle of the night a few weeks ago and wouldn't leave. I know that in things like Twilight (love it, as you may guess from a few character names although the actual characters are ones I've made up,unlike the Demons characters which are not mine ) vampires can't have babies (massive plot giveaway) but as Mina had Quincey (I think that's spelt right.)I assume she can.**_

_**It's not very accurate, a lot of facts might be wrong and obviously I don't own Demons. But anyway hope you enjoy.**_

_**Xoxoxo14**_

True love doesn't have a happy ending:  
True love doesn't have an ending.  
~ By Anonymous ~

It was twilight; the lights were still off as was a characteristic of Mina's house. The room wallowed in a deeply sleepy plum purple darkness. Now the colour of dark grapes, now dark chocolate, getting gradually darker and more ripe.

The waiting room.

Luke's predominant, persuasive, practised instincts told him that breaking the silence would be like walking into a room full of snakes: hissing and spiting.

Breathing out steadily and tunefully – it was almost a whistle- Luke went against his instincts.

"We're probably jumping to conclusions. I did about you and my dad… we'll have misinterpreted something"

"And what is there to misinterpret Luke?" Galvin barked his voice dripping with rage "What is there?"

The words 'Galvin', 'angry' and 'fight' came in to Ruby's head and she wondered whether she should take her earrings out- this was going to be serious. But, Galvin wouldn't really hurt Mina. Would he? No, that was her job and, even then, there were never fists involved – although sometimes, alright very often, she was bloody tempted to turn her arm into a spring and fire straight for Mina snob, slapper vampire's nose, or thwack her round the head with one of her oh so precious books, or .. Wait. Ruby. Stay on task. She, like Luke thought there was something they had missed, although what exactly remained a question. She had one theory: Mina was writing a very unoriginal (Rupert, Maggie, Mr Tibbs) novel. Unoriginal, very Mina. Writing a novel, not so much. But, Ruby supposed, she had to do something with her life.

Ruby was pacing.

Luke was aimlessly running his hands through his hair. Waiting for somebody to shout April fool!

He was looking at Galvin's face, but Galvin was looking at the ground.

Galvin had only ever seen everything that was beautiful about Mina: the diamonds in her eyes, the pearls around her neck. But now he couldn't see anything past the letter. The messy waves of almost nervous handwriting- sloping slightly to the right- showing Mina's vulnerability, her humanity…..until you read them.

The lock rattled in protest, in warning but the stillness never changed.

Mina entered the fresh air on her clothes, a rare glow to her face, cheeks pink and greedily human.

She smelt the familiar tang of cologne- eau d'whiskey-, hotel soap, and the greasy yet strangely enticing odour of chip paper before she caught the sourness of the situation.

"Galvin" she gushed: his presence made her fearless. "I didn't expect you to be here. Someone walked me home, very chivalrous, his name's Nathan and he likes the Beatles. I couldn't say no. My poor car's still at the theatre, and my driver, I'll have to call…….What's wrong...Galvin...Rupert?"

Galvin read voice flat and dry.

"Dear Rupert, There's something you need to know. On the night Maggie died – when you and Jay were going after that level 15- when I grabbed your arm and told you to be careful. I had a vision. I saw Tibbs going into your house, Maggie working on her laptop; I saw her turn around and scream. He must have left a trace on you that time we, you, almost caught him at King's Cross; the plan must have already been in his mind. I didn't tell you. You can probably guess why. I did try to call you afterwards but your phone was off. I can't….And then it stops."

Galvin swallowed the letter in a fist, his veins stood out; purple and blue. He turned – wired with anger, hatred cracking across his eyes, cool, glittering bullets.

"I'm so sorry Rupert" Mina's breathless words tumbled over each other; there was a shaking in her throat, like swallowing tears.

She'd gone very very pale and very still as Galvin read the letter, lying in broken glass.

"Sorry doesn't cut it Mina!" Galvin snarled, growled and spat as he crashed across the room, he put his eyes on hers, so he could see the tears on her eyelashes. So he could see the fear. Just the way he liked to smite. "You murdered her" he said each word real slow- through gritted teeth- so they'd both understand.

"No Rupert" Mina gasped; it felt like some gaping wound, a hole in her chest had just started bleeding again. She needed to hold his face, or put her hands on his shoulders, do something to remind herself that this was Galvin, Rupert, and not the shadowy, writhing, hating, beast his anger made her imagine and she needed Rupert to fall into. "Tibbs murdered her"

He grabbed her wrists and pressed them to her sides brought his face so close to hers he was breathing her in but she never flinched, never looked away.

She wasn't without fear, but she was fearless.

"You murdered her Mina Harker"

Mina shivered, although it was far from cold, she pressed her back against the cool wall wishing she could melt into it.

Melting, the ice, the nothingness, the numb cold she'd used to bury feelings she couldn't take, she couldn't feel that much, or she didn't know she could.

It was her turn to speak through her teeth with defiance and an undeniable grace.

"She murdered are baby, your baby."

"Whoa," said Luke "Something you're not telling us Galvin."

Ruby was shocked; Mina and Galvin had had a baby. That meant Mina and Galvin had…dot…….dot…dot. Stop thinking Ruby. Stop thinking NOW!

"What?" Galvin stumbled for a second, releasing Mina. "You…..you wanted the abortion."

"No I didn't" Mina's hands shook with fragile relief as she took hold of Galvin's elbows, pulling herself towards him. "It was her, she twisted..."

"Liar" Galvin half shoved half flung Mina away from him and her head smacked against the wall with a painful sounding thwack. "I never want to see you again Mina Harker"

"Galvin wait, listen to me. Galvin please, I love you!"

He left.

Echo's from the slamming door shuddered throughout the room, they could hear Galvin's footsteps- count them even- as he thundered away. Then his weathered car cleared its throat as it pulled out of the drive. Then nothing.

Well, the hiss smack of the rain on the window had got louder and Luke thought he could make out the wail of an ambulance somewhere.

"Tea?" Ruby swallowed before speaking, her voice still didn't sound right.

"Mina?" That was all Luke could muster despite the army of questions bubbling up in his throat. He had Goosebumps. The hairs on his arm were doing the Mexican wave and his stomach had that sickly twist in it, like before you go on a rollercoaster- don't forget your seatbelt.

"I fell in love with Rupert Galvin" Mina's left hand twisted the skin on her right arm as if she was giving herself a Chinese burn, she drew her teeth over her bottom lip, shaking. "I didn't envisage it, I didn't plan it, it just happened, and for a time it was wonderful, but, then it finished. He met Maggie"

"But…you were pregnant?"

Mina nodded and dragged her hair across her face; she hated anyone seeing her cry, worst of all Ruby. Or maybe Luke was worse. He needed strength he needed to believe in her. And she didn't have any strength left; she didn't have the strength to remember.

_* * * * * * * * *_

**AN: See chapter 2 ….**


	2. RosalieJarred

Love me without fear  
Trust me without questioning  
Need me without demanding  
Want me without restrictions  
Accept me without change  
Desire me without inhibitions  
For a love so free....  
Will never fly away.  
~ By Dick Sutphen ~

_**22 Years, 10 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days ago….**_

"_Well? Rupert what does it say"_

"_Errrr nothing there's... erm … just a little blue cross"_

"_What does that mean?"_

"_Errrm" _

"_Rupert! You should know this!"_

"_And why exactly should I? You're the one that's done all this before!"_

"_Yes well, believe it or not pregnancy tests have moved on just a little bit since then"_

_Half of Galvin's mouth twitched upwards and he gave his customary, rusty, chuckle- not hollow, but never quite full._

_Mina was standing in the bay window 'looking' out at the purple, green bruise of a storm spreading across the sky, reminding him of the figurehead of a ship. He took the moment capturing it, remembering it drinking her in. The crimson smile playing across her lips, lips that belonged to a Greek goddess in a gilt painting. The rosy flush of impatience flooding her neck. When he wasn't around Mina he always felt oddly thirsty._

"_What's wrong?" her voice sounded young, even scared._

_Galvin blinked, he thought he'd reacted pretty well considering he'd been greeted by a pregnancy test on the coffee table. He ran his hands through his hair, starting to feel more than a little dizzy, he should have put his head between his knees, but that was not a very Galvinish thing to do. Okay, think, he thought, bloody hell he was having a baby, bloody hell he was having a baby with a freakin vampire…….that was new._

_Then he noticed that Mina had her arms folded, tightly as though she was holding herself together and that she wasn't blinking, hardly breathing and that she'd bitten her fingernails to nothing. _

_She looked shit scared._

_After all, Galvin thought, she was the one that was going to have to have the damn thing._

_Be a man Rupert._

"_Right erm I'll look it up" Galvin said, in his best casual yet muscular voice he picked up the yellow leaflet, then dropped it, then picked it up again._

_Mina nodded meekly._

_There was silence for a few seconds, apart from the rustling of pages and the pounding of each of their hearts until Mina spoke up, tentatively._

"_I… I like Rosalie for a girl…and Jarred for a boy" Mina smiled; strange, unpopular names that it was hard to forget. "Is that alright?"_

_Galvin walked over, he wrapped his strong arms gently around Mina's waist then, he pressed his lips against her cheek, and then into her neck._

"_It's perfect Mina. Congratulations."_

_* * * * * *_

**AN: But not for long…..**


	3. Drowning

Accept the things  
To which fate binds you and  
Love the people with whom fate  
Brings you together  
But do so with all your heart.  
~ By Marcus Aurelius ~

_**22 Years, 9 Months, 1 Week and 5 days ago…**_

"_So you're sure this'll work Mina?" _

_Jay's words were harsh and irritated like he was trying to shake- or shrug – something off. Doubt. Seducing, sticky, sharp glass in your throat, doubt. She could hear the pitch of it perfectly in his staccato voice: along with denim jackets and milky coffee. Black. Pitch black doubt. She knew it well._

_Rupert was worse though, he'd never questioned her once._

_That was what made the earthquake; the shiver, the shattering, the screams._

_She was drowning._

_Gripping the edge of a table for support Mina fought against the squabbling currents; they were flinging her fiercely: down, right, up, under. She fought against the cold politely greeting her skin and the wispy moan of the mysterious deep. She needed to breathe; her lungs were burning, ripping, tearing. _

"_Rupert!"_

"_Mina! Mina what's wrong? Is it the baby?" Galvin cannoned over swerving in and out of tables, pulse gun locked and ready; frowning in deep, unconditional concern for his 'sweetheart plus one'._

"_It's hardly a baby is it?" Jay mused, muttering, babies and smiting had never sounded very tasty to him. Although it hadn't seemed like Galvin was the sort to choose a portion of disaster flavour damnation either; until it appeared on the menu, served with a generous helping of Mina Harker of course. "Isn't it just a sort of tadpoley, bunch of cells at this stage?"_

"_It has a beating heart" said Mina instantly defensive. _

_Please god don't make me choose. Mina begged._

_Rupert or Quincey? A brother or a father? Life or death? But which was which? _

_You don't have to choose Mina- the voice in her head was Quincey's; rough velvet. He'll stab me with the stake. I'll sprawl around and groan a bit, and then go still. They'll think I'm dead. He'll leave. Then I'll wake up again. I've been hurt, but I'm not hurt. I'll leave. You won't have to worry; you won't have to feel pain._

_Of course, Mina's thought's sighed. And then Rupert would sweep her off her feet and lead her up the stairwell to his white horse; a happy song playing in the background. Quincey would hang- like the sun- over RosalieJarred's cradle: stroke the rosy apples in his/ her cheeks, hold it's tiny, perfect hand and promise "I'll never let anything hurt you."_

_Maybe in Hollywood._

_But hope was a virtue and Mina was an unlikely dreamer; she had so many dreams about Quincey and happy endings with Rupert. _

_It was like choosing between your lungs breathing and your heart beating. Impossible._

_On the one hand there was Quincey; he'd got under her skin, the most beautiful, haunting part of her, he'd grown beneath her heart, and in it. He was her son. The 4 year old with his Big Coat on who'd hugged her legs and fallen asleep under the gold sky. The dark haired boy on the cricket team; grass stains on his knees drinking in the sunshine like it was rain. She couldn't shake that inexplicable tug; she ran for cover when he was around, but she ran towards him. She didn't choose him, he just happened, the love she felt for him, just happened, the belief she still had in him, just happened. She wouldn't stop Quincey happening._

_On the other hand she thought- she knew- she was falling in love with Rupert Galvin. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't- live- without- each- other love. He was everywhere to her, he was the song that played in her head on car journeys, the thing that kept her wishing on wishing stars she couldn't see, when she caught her breath, there he was. He had more than enough of her to break her heart. Without him, without love, what was the point? _

_She wouldn't choose. She'd hope. She'd pray to god; bargain with the devil, and cross her fingers._

"_I'm fine Rupert," Mina smiled "Just go, drive a stake through his heart and get rid of him."_

_Galvin kissed her on the mouth and Jay grumbled something about "star cross'd lovers" and "what good it did them."_

"_You're being so brave Mina." Galvin held her face in his hands. "I promise you won't regret this." _

_He left. Mina caught her breath._

_* * * * * * *_


	4. You're not sorry

Love is always open arms. If you close your arms about love you will find that you are left holding only yourself.  
~ By Leo Buscaglia ~

_**4 hours, 43 minutes and 6 seconds later….**_

_Startling, sickly and strangely inticing the scent of blood was like a slap in the face. Galvin's heart was thundering rabidly; adrenaline, fear, rush. He stumbled under Jay's weight as he half supported half dragged his best friend into The Stacks. To safety? He set his face to a grimace against the onslaught of blood; the sight, the smell the spattering, he was determined not to wince or flinch or even wrinkle his nose: Jay didn't need that._

"_Mina?" Galvin called out and Jay pulled a face. Must be the pain, Galvin thought, but showing torture was not a very Jayish thing to do. Nevertheless the Van- Helsing flumped his way into a chair (thunk, creak, groan); maybe he didn't have a choice, maybe he fell. _

_Something was wrong. Mina stepped out from behind a shelf- she'd been there the whole time- silent and bowed. Her hair draped over her right shoulder, curtaining her face blocking him out as she turned to Jay. Her hands hung by her sides elegant, piano playing, fingers tapping against her legs, like she was composing a concerto. She stood there; irrevocably lovely, too beautiful. Jay glared at her. Snakes of blood oozing down the side of his face._

"_You'd better have a pretty good explanation for this Mina, we used the stake and he sort off died for a bit but then…." Jay gestured at the torrent of blood crowding the left side of his head (he found it very easy to forget she was blind) never taking his eyes off Mina._

"_I'm sorry Jay." _

_Everything lurched, plunged, swooped, juddered and lurched again. Tilted; tipping sideways. Jay said something, then Mina. But it came out in a fuzzy, squeaky babble like when you rewind a video. Galvin played the same words over and over and over again._

_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…._

_What did Mina have to be sorry for? It wasn't her fault. Unless…….No. No way. No god damn way._

_He put his eyes on Mina; she used to shine so bright but in that moment he watched all of it fade._

_She didn't love him. If she had he wouldn't be asking himself why. She wouldn't be begging for forgiveness, begging for him. She wouldn't be on her knees; crying at his feet. She would've said 'No'. He couldn't here a word she was saying; anger made his ears ring._

"_Listen to me Rupert!"_

_She wouldn't be asking him to listen._

"_I should've told you a stake wouldn't kill him… b...ut. I thought you'd l...l...eave before he woke up again…. I mean you were in the middle of nowhere so I figured you'd think it wouldn't matter about the body… Mad I know but…" _

_Stupid girl. She should've known. She should've known. Should've seen how much this would hurt him._

"_Only vampires can kill vampires. If you want to kill him you need to make him human again, make him revert back to his natural age. I think we could find a way, it'll require his DNA….but. We can get that. We'll track him down. I promise." _

_She looked ugly when she cried._

"_Mina" he bent down to her level and held her quivering jaw in one hand. He jerked her face close to his; he could've been about to kiss her. His heated, pulsing breath dried the tears clustering at the corners of her eyes. "He- could- have-killed-me."_

_Mina clapped her hand to her mouth to hold back a sob, very gracious._

"_I know." she whispered through her fingers._

"_Is that what you wanted" He fought to keep his voice low and lifeless and level; he wanted to scream, but that was what she wanted, she wanted him to kick off and rage at her; wanted to get what she deserved. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction._

_He wouldn't give __it__ the satisfaction._

"_Did you want me to die? Did you want our baby to grow up fatherless?.....WELL?" He heard a voice waver into a broken gargling growl; his voice. He couldn't contain his anger anymore. He shook her slightly, then not so slightly._

"_Rupert. Stop." Mina almost pouted, like a little girl, as she took his hand in hers and eased it off her jaw; it had left a mark. She began tracing his knuckles with her thumb in soothing circles. Hypnotic. Then she held his hand in both of her own, she held him, wordlessly, powerfully. Nothing stirred. If only her skin hadn't been so pale next to his. _

"_I'm sorry Rupert" She smiled weakly, watery._

_Galvin shook his head._

"_No…no you're not sorry. " He pulled away; concentrating on not shivering in the heat. Standing up, hands in fists, he already wanted to wash them, to get rid of her._

"_What are you saying Galvin?........No. No. No. No. No."_

_She buried her face in her arms and hands, hating that he was seeing her cry. She felt like she'd just woken up out of the world's most beautiful dream, she squeezed her eyes shut- begging. It only made the tears flow harder._

"_We're finished Mina Harker." Galvin's words were bullets; perfectly aimed. And so simple._

"_Erm" Jay ran his hand through his matted, blood caked, hair. "I know you've both got bigger issues right now but…I'm sort of bleeding to death here."_

_* * * * * *_


	5. StirFry

Some people come into our lives and quickly go.  
Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom.  
Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon.  
They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never ever the same.  
~ By Flavia Weedn ~

_**21 Years, 2 months, 3 Weeks and 6 Days ago….**_

"_Can I get you a drink…wine?"_

"_Not wine thanks" The wind chime voice had an edge of Belgium truffle to it; creamy and smug; mostly creamy._

"_Of course not" Maggie sucked in some air through her teeth, it tasted stale and old. Abruptly, and perhaps ungraciously, she became fascinated with her vegetable pie. It was actually going to be a stir fry but she'd arranged the veg into slices; red pepper, cabbage, baby corn, broccoli. She'd separated the whites. Onions. Mushrooms. Now she chivvied them into the wok; they made a 'tssssssssssss' sound that echoed her sizzling annoyance._

_Not once, not even once. Would it wound Mina too terribly to have just a twinkle- just a glint- one dent in her- rose without a thorn, chocolate without the calories- perfection._

Of course she wouldn't have wine. _Mina was the vision- the sweet rosy plum- of motherhood. She was just starting to show; wearing her politely classy white blouse and black jeans more self consciously than usual. Her hair was looser, falling in waves rather than curls and her face had an undeniable, glow; a radiance that reminded Maggie of autumn._

_Having said that, Maggie mused, rising onto the balls of her feet, Mina did look distinctly swamped and out of place in Maggie's kitchen-diner-living room with the elephant book ends and the patchwork quilt thrown over the sofa, the books slumped over ever surface in various stages of being read. _

_Mina looked like the sort of person that thinks that, for a book to be loved, it has to be handled with care and kept clean and placed neatly on a shelf. _

_Neither of them said anything for a while; the silence was soupy and noisy._

_Maggie stirred the stir-fry looking at Mina out of the corner of her eye. _

_Her face was like a plate; flashing at times dull at others. Her eyelashes brushed her cheeks when she blinked, which Maggie only saw her do once. She was wearing vintage high heels; Maggie was wearing trainers. She stood like a little girl: arms crossed, sticking out her jaw like she might be struggling to stop her lip quivering._

_She obviously hadn't got what she wanted. She wanted Rupert._

_Maggie turned back to her stir-fry._

"_Why am I here Maggie? Why did you ask me to come?"_

_Maggie turned around to look at Mina properly again. When you really looked it was so obvious she was expecting; she looked more windswept than the slight breeze outside allowed, her make up was less sophisticated, more perfectly pretty, and she'd picked up the habit of biting her nails. People were probably starting to talk._

_Maggie began to blink very quickly so the scene before her flickered like and old black and white movie; Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Munroe. A hopeless romantic._

"_Maggie?" Mina's eyes fluttered like a candle._

"_Mina." Maggie took a deep breath; she wasn't lying, these were her lines, it was all in the script. "I want you to know that this is as hard for me to say as it is for you to hear."_

_Mina smiled, like she doubted anything would be hard for her to hear._

"_Me and Rupert had an argument last night. It was about you actually…"_

_Mina smiled again. Thank god, thought Maggie, she was making this so much easier._

"_He asked me to marry him. I said yes of course."_

_That was true._

"_But I asked him: won't it be awkward, what with you and the baby and everything? He asked if I'd find it awkward and I said: maybe we should wait for a couple of years."_

_That was also true._

_Mina had gone very still; she looked braced._

"_And then he flew off the handle. He said the only reason he encouraged you to keep it was because he saw how much you wanted him back and didn't want any trouble. He said he wished it never existed. He said that, the truth was: He couldn't be happy while it was around, while it was alive…."_

_Not so true._

"_Your wrong…Rupert wouldn't say that. He wants this baby as much as I do."_

_Maggie had never been able to imagine Mina hurt. She supposed she was very graceful about it; she'd even say it suited her._

"_You want Rupert to be happy don't you?"_

"_You know I do. More than anything in the world." Her words were like a flush of sincerity. She spoke them like a saint, like a martyr. Like Rupert was her religion._

_Maggie flinched._

"_Then you'll do this for him." Her heart was pounding so loud and fast, like a helicopter, she was surprised Mina couldn't hear it._

_Mina looked down at the floor. When she looked up her eyelashes were wet._

_She nodded and made a little sound that might have been a 'yes' or a whimper. Maggie couldn't tell._

_She handed Mina a piece of paper (it had got a bit of onion on it)._

"_I wrote the address of a clinic down in Braille for you."_

"_You knew I'd choose to…to get rid of it?"_

"_No." Maggie swallowed back the remorse in her; this was for the greater good. "But I hoped you would. I know how much Rupert means to you"_

_Mina 'read' the address, it felt like a fish was turning over inside her._

"_Everything." she whispered through her invisible sobs._


	6. The frog prince

You come to love not by finding the perfect person,  
but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly.  
~ by Sam Keen ~

_**26 minutes and 42 seconds later…..**_

_Maggie smiled down at Rupert as she served him the stir- fry. As usual he was looking weather-beaten and disgruntled. She pretended they were in a movie and he was her, workaholic, husband, of two years who was always grumbling and only seeing what he didn't have when the reality was that things were not so bad at all. One day he'd go back in time or to Australia and she'd dance around her room a bit and try on lots of different clothes and in the end he'd realise how lucky he was to have her and they'd live happily ever after, in Australia. Come to think of it, she wasn't exactly sure what Rupert's job was some managing director of something or other, anyway, it didn't bring in a lot of money and he was always grumpy when he got home. She didn't know why he didn't quit._

_Focus Maggie, thought Maggie, as she sat down to eat her stir-fry, this was a pivotal scene. She supposed what was happening to her was the sort of thing that happened in movies, or fairytales, (or to other people anyway). She supposed she'd be the villain. Mina certainly looked like a princess._

_Maggie began poking a piece of broccoli like it was a lab specimen. She was disgusted enough._

_No. It wasn't like that. She was just trying to save her happily ever after._

_The truth was, it was Maggie that couldn't stand to have Mina and the baby in Rupert's life, in their life. She didn't care what Rupert said; Mina would always be more beautiful, more stunning, more 'look at me'. She walked like a beauty queen. She never blushed or said stupid things. _

_There was a reason the love epic wasn't called: Romeo and Juliet, the enchanting woman Romeo had a fling with and her baby._

"_Rupert?" Galvin looked up his mouth stuffed with stir fry. Maggie smiled at him. "Mina came to visit today."_

_Galvin shrugged although, he'd been wondering why she wasn't at The Stacks. _

"_She was pretty irritated already but then I told her about the engagement. I'm sorry I know I shouldn't have but... I... I just had to tell everyone, everyone I saw, all day." Maggie made her self blush trying to appear innocent and 'head over heels in love' – for the latter she didn't have to pretend. She even fluttered her eyelashes. A baby bird. "Then Mina she…she flew off the handle. She screamed that the only reason she kept the...the thing in the first place was because she wanted you back and that if you were going to marry someone else she'd just get rid of it. I…I think she went straight to the abortion place."_

_Galvin stared at her._

"_No. No way. Mina wants this baby. She….she bought little shoes."_

_Maggie walked around the tiny table to put her arms around Rupert._

"_I'm so sorry"_

_Galvin felt sick, like he was on a boat; pitching, forwards and backwards on a horrible rolling sea._

_RosalieJarred?_

_Mina?_

_He should have been there for her. Even if they weren't together. _

_She was probably so scared. So lonely in the dark knowing there was someone coming who was going to be utterly dependent on her._

_But not according to Maggie. Maggie said she'd never wanted it._

"_You're sure that's what she said."_

_Maggie nodded burying her face in his shoulder._

_His stomach coiled. He couldn't believe Mina would say that; she'd seemed so crazy about this baby. _

_Then again he'd thought she was crazy about him too. Crazy about everything they could be._

_Crazy._

"_I don't think she'll be coming round for tea anytime soon" mumbled Maggie, looking glum for him._

_Galvin shook his head. Of course he'd see Mina at the stacks but they'd act like it had never happened, just like they'd acted like 'they'd' never happened._

_Galvin returned Maggie's hug breathing in her smell of HB pencils and Impulse body spray and cooking. Maybe it would be okay. He didn't need Mina. He knew that already. And you couldn't love something you never knew. He'd loved the idea of RosalieJarred but it wasn't like he'd lost anyone. Not really._

_Today was the start of a whole new life. Mina was, always, just a business partner and Ros…..and the baby was just a dream. Just a good dream._

_He had others._

"_So Mags. Does this mean we can move the wedding forward?"_

"_Of course." she pecked him sweetly on the lips. "And don't worry. We've all been there. I had to kiss a few frogs before I found my prince."_

"_Me? A prince?" Galvin laughed; loud and full._

_He loved it when Maggie said stupid things._

_**AN: Thanks for reading this far, I really didn't expect anyone to read this as it's about 4 months since Demons was last on T.V.**_

_**So please review, it would make my day, unless you say you hated it of course.**_

_**There is more coming so please keep checking up on this story. It goes back to the present day. **_

_**Thanks so much for reading this far please stick around for more chapters. =D.**_


	7. American boy

_**Present Day……**_

The only things in life you regret,  
Are the risks that you didn't take.  
~ by Anonymous ~

"Alright Luke pay up."

"What?"

"I told you there was something going on between those two. We had a bet."

"Ah but you see: you bet there was something _going _on, not that something _had gone_ on."

"Err no way, that's not fair. You owe me a tenner"

"In your dreams Ruby."

Galvin listened as first their footsteps, then their voices, sloshed away into the rain.

He frowned and cursed under his breath wondering just how lame he looked/ sounded/ was and trying to remember the last time the weight of the world hadn't been on his shoulders.

Growing up on Harrington Avenue the simple things in life were always fine: living off bar tips, trying at relationships. He was the American boy and one day, he thought, he'd find an American beauty.

Why did he have to move to England? Why did he have to realise that getting the girl was the easy part? That girls could be scary? That changing was what people did best? Why did he have to hurt people? Why did he have to meet Mina? Why did he have to meet Maggie?

So here he was again throwing punch lines and then trying to shift the blame onto anyone but himself. He knew it was no ones fault. No one's or everyone's.

He felt old. He felt like his life was such a waste, after everything that might have been.

He'd loved Mina. She was his hero, the moon shining over him. He couldn't help but stop and stare whenever she walked by. She made him so much better. But, he loved her with a fire and she'd never see the light no matter what he did. She'd never see him loving her the way she'd loved Jonathon. It seemed like they'd always be invisible, like shadows in the faded light because he'd never be her favourite person. One in six billion, that sort of thing.

He'd loved Maggie; she'd been his sunshine. His light in the dark. He could tell you so many things about her. Her favourite colour was orange, she loved long car journeys, born on the thirteenth; the songs she wrote were beautiful; she had her mother's eyes. And, he thought he could tell you, she loved him. She'd wanted him enough to say she'd spend the rest of her life with him. Mina had never promised that; she never could.

That saying: It's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all, was a load of crap in Galvin's opinion.

It would have been better just to marry Carrie Baker (his 4th grade crush) and have done with it. Be an American boy raising little babies.

And still he didn't leave. He waited, car engine thrumming, on the corner of Mina's street, where her windows couldn't quite see.

He didn't think the steering wheel had ever looked that good. He should be well on his way to his loving bed and whiskey.

But he realised, that, if he ran away now, no one would ever come after him. And that would hurt.

It was defiantly not a very Galvinish thing to do but he cut the engine and left his car in the middle of the street. He stood there, then walked away. Into the thrumming rain. At Mina's door he faked a smile; so she wouldn't see. He put the key in the lock.

Because nothing in the world can ever truly destroy, the hope of an American boy.

* * * * * *


	8. Wake up

**9 minutes and 5 seconds later….**

The greatest weakness of most humans  
Is their hesitancy to tell others,  
How much they love them  
While they're alive.  
~ by O.A. Battista ~

The dark of her hair, bright, against the white tiles. One hand at her neck, twisted around pearls. The empty tub skittering between bath and sink.

"Mina! Mina!" He stumbled to her side and shook her. He always shook them: Jay, Maggie.

He began pumping her chest with no idea how many compressions to do per minute or anything like that. Every time her body jolted limply. Lifelessly.

"Mina!" How had she managed to take an overdose? Weren't vampires supposed to have some kind of mega immune system? "Mina!" His voice on her name sounded very far away.

He noticed that one of the fingers on her other hand was pointing accusingly. Towards him. This was his fault. She was all he ever wanted, and he took her away.

He wanted to go back. He wanted to turn around when Mina said she loved him and kiss her until her skin grew chapped.

He wanted her to wake up.

He called an ambulance.

Why wouldn't she wake up?

You don't know what you've got until it's gone. And you don't know what it's like to feel so low.

He'd never actually told her he loved her.

He bent his head awkwardly. He pressed his lips firmly against hers, trying to do mouth to mouth. But before he knew it, he was kissing her. Now there was no one around to say how inconvenient and almost embarrassing it was, no one to suddenly become very interested in their hangnails and cuticles. Now she was dead, he kissed her properly.

He kissed her, a tense edge to the way his lips crushed against hers. Like he was scared.

She hadn't breathed for to long.

Inside her heart was still beating. Fluttering like a bird waiting to fly free.

Of course, at long last, the paramedics arrived. Of course they clamped yellow machines to her chest. Of course they made her breathe again.

Of course.

Mina Harker was a fact.

* * * * * * * *

**AN: Thanks for reading, please, please review. Nearly done. Just one more chapter to go.**


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